Influencers and media on the AfD’s fringe are using the beached whale in the Baltic Sea to sow mistrust of other parties. At the forefront is the right-wing Compact magazine: Its “TV chief” Paul Klemm described the animal, which some call “Hope” or “Timmy” in a YouTube video, as “a symbol of a policy that is not capable of saving either Hope or its own people.” The film released on Monday, titled “They Let the Whale Die!” had been viewed more than 75,000 times by Thursday.
In fact, the state had already spent at least 40,000 euros on the rescue attempts in Timmendorfer Strand. Yet the whale stranded four times in total, which scientists interpreted as a sign of serious health problems. They advised against further rescue attempts that could magnify the animal’s suffering. Nevertheless, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD), under pressure from part of the public, finally approved a privately funded “minimally invasive” rescue operation using an air cushion. Preparations began on Thursday.
In another video about the whale, Compact editor Stephanie Elsässer says: “Germany must also be saved.” She displayed a silver medal bearing the portrait of the AfD leader and the inscription “Chancellor Alice Weidel,” “because Alice Weidel loves animals too.” The video description promotes buying the medal for around 90 euros.
Compact also had Mecklenburg-Vorpommern AfD state parliamentarian Enrico Schult proclaim in the film that his faction had now submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the state government about the whale. They wanted to know to what extent the authorities “delayed the rescue of the whale.”
Absurd Claims
The video was misleadingly titled “#FreeTimmy: Eco-industry wants to slaughter the whale!”. “Slaughter” means, according to Duden, “to properly kill a pet whose meat is intended for human consumption.” But even the Compact editors do not claim in the video that anyone intends to kill the whale.
Klemm also speculated that offshore wind farms supported by the Greens for climate protection had contributed to the whale losing its bearings. Kim Detloff, head of marine protection at the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), says, “Yes, offshore wind energy, construction and operation have impacts on the marine environment, including on whales, among other reasons due to noise emissions.”
But: “This most likely did not lead to the humpback whale’s stranding. What could have hindered its return to the North Sea is the noise from the heavy shipping traffic in the Baltic Sea.” There are currently particularly many oil tankers of the Russian shadow fleet sailing there – i.e., on behalf of the Russian ruler, whom Compact honors with a “Patriot Putin – the winner medal.”
Also well-ranked on YouTube on the topic was at least temporarily a video by the Austrian right-wing populist Gerald Grosz. “Whale Timmy dies. And with him Germany dies,” reads the description. The state does nothing, just as with murders committed by migrants. He then criticizes, for example, aid to the Russia-attacked Ukraine. “And while the whale takes its last breath, Merz, Baerbock, Söder and the entire taxpayer-funded establishment applaud themselves for their moral superiority.” Although it is not known that the named politicians applaud anyone in connection with the whale.
On TikTok, a user named “Dennis” with the handle theoriginal4 managed to rack up more than 200,000 views with videos about the whale. He also accuses the authorities of not doing enough to save the animal. A particularly large share of viewers watched his film in which he expressed the absurd suspicion that Hope had been secured with a rope. Dennis had complained in mid-March that so few people attended a demonstration by the controversial singer Xavier Naidoo with conspiracy adherents in Berlin. Dennis also sings the song of the alleged decline of Germany, while Ukraine is being aided.
Highly Emotional Against Science
The YouTuber “Vincent” explained the mechanism behind this Internet mobilization as follows: You pick a “highly emotional single case,” deny all experts their expertise, and “start to smear the people who actually work to make things better with hate and incitement.” In fact, participants report death threats.
This anti-science hostility is promoted by the AfD, according to Vincent. “The AfD has been trying for years to massively discredit people who have expertise—whether in climate, economics, or sociology. All people who call themselves experts are in these circles anyway controlled by the system, and, ah, they only do what the elites want and we cannot listen to them.” Therefore, this milieu then seeks its own areas of expertise or simply makes stuff up on the spot.
